How to Work With Two Freaks
by riesheee
Summary: An unlikely trio grouped together, tasked to complete the impossible. With a 1% success rate, how can she survive? #5
1. Doomsday

****

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice or Naruto.**

**Author's Note: I wanted this story to be different than majority of the GA fanfics in FFN; that is, it does not involve any romance between Natsume and Mikan or among the other characters. However, I hope that you guys will still like this story as much, or at least drop a review for me to improve on it. Thanks :D**

**Summary: An unlikely trio grouped together, tasked to complete the impossible. With a 1% success rate, how can she survive?**

****

**

* * *

**

__

How to Work With Two Freaks

Chapter 1: Doomsday

Subaru-senpai once told me that other than during the Cultural Festival, one of the best times for a Technical Alice like me to showcase my abilities was for the Elementary Graduation Project. He had come to our mixed abilities class to hand Hotaru-chan a secret document, and just at that time I was almost ready to break down after a fifth failed attempt at making singing candy. He approached me gently and at first I was scared—he seemed so stern whenever I saw him. But my spirits lifted after he told me that I had a wonderful Alice and that I should never give up, no matter what.

_Hotaru-chan is so lucky to have such a kind brother._

"But, I don't remember Yura-senpai doing this project before she graduated," I said.

"This is a new proposed idea and we want to see how well it turns out," he answered, and left the classroom.

And here I am, with Nonoko-chi twirling my hair among her fingers, waiting anxiously for either the substitute teacher or Naru-sensei to come. I was quite used to Naru-sensei's _weird_ taste in clothes; hence I did not necessarily get a huge shock when he entered Class B wearing a one-piece, embroidered with magenta flowers and with lace hanging at the ends of the sleeves.

"Class! I have a huge announcement to make!" he shouted. None of us looked very interested, except perhaps Mikan-chan and Inchou.

"We're going to have a major project starting from today! Doesn't that sound so exciting?"

I heard Nonoko-chi mutter, "Yeah, only you will think so." I stifled a giggle.

"This project is your _Graduation Project_, where for the first time in Gakuen Alice history, you get to decide on how you want your Graduation Ceremony to turn out," he said. I was paying more attention now, when I heard the words "Graduation Project". Wasn't this the first and only project I anticipated since the day Subaru-senpai spoke with me? I could barely contain my excitement.

Narumi-sensei continued, "You'll be working in groups—" The mass shifting of tables cut him off as everyone moved to the people they wanted to work with. Nonoko-chi looked at me, grinning. I put my arm around her shoulder. _This project is going to be great._

"… And it will be random grouping by the teacher, which is me!" he finished. My jaw dropped.

"No!" the class hollered. To regain the quietness, Narumi-sensei reached for his Alice controller at his ear—a warning that everyone took so seriously that the noise immediately died down, as if someone had stopped time.

"Thank you," he said, and took out a piece of paper from the folder in his hands. "Why the Academy had decided on random grouping was to see how well each of you has bonded with your fellow classmates. I used the lottery method to decide on the groupings, and each group will have three members. Here they are: Group 1: Nogi Ruka, Mochiage and Shouda Sumire; Group 2: Yome Kokoroyomi, Usami Wakako and Imai Hotaru; Group 3: Sakura Mikan, Ogasawara Nonoko and Tobita Yuu; Group 4: Umenomiya Anna, Hyuuga Natsume and Kitsuneme. There are no violent objections, right? Well then, please get into your groupings and start your discussions! Go!" He clapped his hands eagerly and sauntered out off the class, along the way pulling the quivering substitute teacher into the classroom.

I glanced in Nonoko's direction, but she had already run over to find the rest of her group. _Lucky her, at least she has Mikan-chan and Inchou._Then I turned to the back of the classroom, where a raven-haired boy sat alone, his face covered by a manga. My heart started to pound. _What should I do now?_

Hyuuga Natsume; the infamous Black Cat. People said he was a murderer and completed dirty jobs for the Academy. I hardly believed any of these rumors, but he still terrified me. Although for some reason his eyes have now softened, I still could not forget the lethal glare he once gave me when I tripped over his bag, a few months before Mikan-chan came to the Academy. I had thought he was going to kill me, and hurried away as fast as my legs would take me. How Mikan-chan and Ruka-pyon, two of the most gentle persons I have ever met, can tolerate him and speak to him so normally—that I can never understand.

But why? Why must I be grouped with him? And for such an important project too! At the present, I did not feel anything to look forward to. Yet it still had to be done. I heaved a heavy sigh and lugged myself to the back of the classroom.

"Um…" I stopped a few feet in front of his table, unwilling to go any closer. _What was I supposed to say?_

"Hyu… Hyuuga-kun!" I called.

It took eternity for him to lift his manga off his face and then stare at me.

"What?"

I stood in front of him, petrified. Those eyes—those deep crimson eyes—were so intense. They pierced through my skull and were forever etched inside my mind.

"What do you want?" he snapped, clearly annoyed.

I tried my best to return his gaze. My hands were breaking out in cold sweat. "Um… we are in… the same group for the Graduation Project…" I mumbled. "And… Narumi-sensei said that we should discuss what we want to do… um, now…"

He shocked me by slamming his manga on the table. "I don't care about what that transvestite says," he drawled, and exited the classroom.

I stood rooted to the ground for several minutes. I may as well be suffering from an emotional trauma.

Only when the lunch bell rang did I wake up from my trance-like state.

* * *

"Nonoko-chi! It's horrible! Just so horrible!" I bawled. I probably looked like a Mikan who had been accidentally-on-purpose-taken-advantage-of-by-that-jerk now. Except that I did not experience that.

"Cheer up, Anna-tan," Nonoko tried to comfort me. "It's not that bad, right?"

I jerked my head up. "How can you say that?" I cried. "Did you see him venting his anger on me? And those eyes glaring at me—they were so terrifying! How am I supposed to work with someone like that?"

Mikan-chan nodded thoughtfully. "Natsume's a really big meanie, eh?"

"Who's your other group-mate?" asked Hotaru-chan.

"Um…" I sniffed. "I think it was Kitsuneme-kun."

"Then where is he now?"

"Probably still flying in the stratosphere," Koko-kun grinned—no, that was his usual expression. "His Alice went berserk."

"What?" Mikan-chan exclaimed. "Do the teachers know?"

He shrugged. "Guess so."

"How can you be so irresponsible? He could be dying up there, without any food and water and… and…"

"Oxygen."

"Yeah, that too! Thanks, Hotaru-chan!"

Inchou raised his hand up for silence. "That's out of the point, guys. What we're supposed to do now is to help Anna-chan out with her problems, not discuss about the basic necessities of life!"

"Jeez, Inchou, you sound like a real class president now," teased Koko.

"A sissy one," Hotaru added, and poor Inchou blushed furiously.

"Am not!"

Nonoko-chi shook her head at them fooling around and turned to me. "Anna-tan, how about we all go together to talk to Hyuuga-kun about this matter? It might be better."

"It might not work," I said, rubbing my sore eyes. "Who knows, he might get really scary and—"

"He's not."

All heads turned to Ruka at his interruption. Ruka-pyon, who had not spoken a single word all this time, was suddenly staring at me with… such a fierce look. Then his face flushed at his impudence, and he quickly looked down.

"Um… what I meant was…" he stuttered, embarrassed. "Natsume… isn't as horrible as you guys speak of him. He's in a bad mood nowadays because of… well, certain things."

"Doesn't mean he can be so self-centered and mean to Anna-chan!" Mikan pouted.

"Shut up, idiot," Hotaru-chan spoke, as if she understood Ruka-pyon's explanation.

I wasn't bothered by them. Teamwork weighed a large percentage in this project and I was determined to make Hyuuga-kun do his work no matter what it took. I was not going to mess up Elementary project, especially when it was this one. Grabbing my food, I stood up.

"Where are you going?" Nonoko-chi inquired.

"To look for him."

"Are you sure? Don't you need us to accompany you?" asked Inchou.

I shook my head and swiftly left the canteen.

This was probably going to turn out to be a disaster.

* * *

_A room lit only by shadows._

_"Kamen no kimi..." she breathed, bringing an exquisite fan over her delicate lips._

* * *

I finally found the flame caster under a sakura tree. It was a place where I often saw him resting if I happened to take a walk outside the Elementary main building. Occasionally Mikan-chan would be there too, either squabbling or just sitting down opposite of him. I never questioned their relationship, but there was certainly something going on between the both of them; something which no one knew.

I tread as quietly as I could while approaching him. Was he still annoyed? To my relief, his eyes were closed. The only problem was: how was I supposed to talk to him now?

I sighed for the second time today—Umenomiya Anna never sighs, but these were exceptions—and was about to head back when I heard a voice.

"Oi, pink-head."

I jumped. "Wh—what? Who's there?" My voice rose a pitch to a shriek.

A grunt from behind was my answer. Slowly, I turned and met a pair of crimson eyes.

"An idiot like Polka," he muttered, rolling his eyes and running a hand through his hair.

"Polka?" I repeated, confused. "What… who's that?"

He sat up straight. "What are you doing here?" Evading my question. But I figured that it would be a futile attempt to press on further, so I ignored that fact.

I mustered up enough courage to speak. "Um… Hyuuga-kun, about our project… can we start discussing already? Some groups have already started planning their layout and—"

"Do I look like I care?" he cut in haughtily.

This was person was really getting on my nerves. I bit my lip, trying to control my temper. "Naru-sensei said that teamwork is heavily graded too—"

"Don't _ever_mention that pedophile's name to my face," he snarled.

"What's wrong with Narumi-sensei?"

"It's none of your business."

My stubbornness took over me. "I feel that I have the right to know, Hyuuga-kun," I moped.

"And I feel that you are one heck of an annoying woman."

"I was just asking, you know." My voice was trembling as I tried not to burst out at him.

"Shut up." A falling sakura petal burned to ashes.

"Hyuuga-kun," I said, gritting my teeth. "I came here to talk about the project. I do want to work well with you and Kitsuneme-kun."

"Then why don't you two lovebirds do this whole thing by yourselves instead?" he spat out.

That did it. I snapped. "Well, maybe you should get a permanent controller for your temper too, because your personality is as dangerous as your Alice."

Then I turned and ran.

* * *

Apparently, somebody saw our whole argument, thought that Hyuuga-kun was going out of control and ran to find the nearest sensei. For half an hour, I spilled everything out to my favorite sensei, who wanted to talk to me because I wasn't half as lethal as Hyuuga-kun and that the Anna-san he knew hardly flared.

In fact, never. This was my first time losing my temper.

After listening intently to me, Misaki-sensei scratched his head in that oh-so-adorable fashion and mused, "Hmm, I never thought that things would get so tricky… err, let me talk to that annoying colleague of mine, okay? Don't worry; I'll have it settled soon.

I did not carry any high hopes for this, until the next day when Naru-sensei entered the class with Hyuuga-kun following behind. I did not want to see him at all: what if he wanted to kill me? Ironically I still had to complete the project too.

Narumi-sensei put a hand on Hyuuga-kun's raven hair and whispered, "Be nice to her now, okay?" He shook it off instead.

I was proud of my lip-reading skills.

I was really scared when he came to the back and gave me a foreboding stare. Mikan-chan and I had exchanged seats for the project and I was uneasy about having to sit next to Hyuuga-kun.

He broke into my thoughts. "Where's the flying guy?"

I gulped. "Um… Koko-kun said that he was still in the stratosphere."

"He's coming down," Koko called from the table in front of ours. "Precisely 652 miles from the Academy."

"At 163 miles per minute," Hotaru-chan informed. "Gravity is a powerful force."

Koko sighed. "Imai's satellites cost a bomb."

"Hn," Hyuuga-kun grunted, and sat down beside him.

He took out a copy of _Naruto_ from his bag and his eyes lingered at the cover for about six seconds, then they flicked to me. "What were we supposed to do again?" he asked.

I was glad that he did not appear to want to murder me. "Discuss what we want our Graduation Ceremony to be like, lay out a plan, and give a presentation to the class by the end of this work," I answered, surprisingly sounding confident.

"Tch." He went back to his manga. I was about to point out that we really had to start discussing the project plans now…

And then the classroom window broke into a thousand fragments.

****

* * *

**Review?**

**Tell me if you liked the so-called "cliffy" :p**


	2. Burnt Berries that Float

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.**

**A/N: Woah! How long has it actually been? I repeat, SORRY! X10000 I'm such an irresponsible writer that I should be banished off the face of FFN T.T I'm not very sure about this, but did those people who "alerted" this story receive many "alerts" from me? I editted chapter 1 quite a few times after I had published it and I didn't know that this would send "alerts" to you guys. SORRY! :( ****But my exams are finally over! XD So I believe that I can spend more time on writing stories now and updating faster (but no promises).**

**So here's the second chapter that took me months to update; ENJOY! :D**

* * *

Burnt Berries that Float

Everyone stared silently in shock. When the dust cleared, a sand-haired boy emerged, choking and attempting to get up from his sprawled state.

"That's one small step for a Flying Alice, a giant leap for Imai Hotaru," Kitsuneme muttered, nursing his bruised and battered form.

Hotaru went forward to examine a suspicious-looking bulge in his pocket and shot him an accusing glare. "You used up my entire food supply."

"Welcome back to Earth, buddy." Kokoroyomi laughed and slapped his best friend's back.

"I come in peace," he replied gruffly.

"Where did you go?" Mikan asked.

Kitsuneme blinked. "Eh? Didn't Koko tell you guys?"

"You mean the crazy Alice thing **(1) **?"

He smiled sheepishly and nodded.

"Wait… why do I get the feeling that Kitsuneme's Alice going berserk has got something to do with Hotaru-chan?" she wondered aloud.

"Correction," said Hotaru. "This is a complete natural phenomenon."

"I don't get it," Mikan shook her head in confusion.

"Hey—a little help here?" Kitsuneme asked weakly. Nonoko-chi went forward and hauled him up.

"You should really start working on the project with your group now," she said.

He stared back at her in puzzlement. "Huh? What did I miss?"

* * *

After an hour the class had finally settled down and my group was at last complete. I spent another hour explaining all the project guidelines to Kitsuneme-kun, who proved to be impossible to talk to. I was ready to rip my hair out in frustration. "Like I said, we just have to list down what we want to do for the Ceremony and give a presentation! Which part of this do you not understand exactly?"

"Uh…" Kitsuneme licked his lips nervously. "Why can't the teachers plan everything like they always did for the previous years?"

I threw my hands up in air. "How would I know?"

"Then why are we still—ahhhhh!"

I watched in horror as he was sent flying to a crumpled heap at a door from a violent kick by Hyuuga-kun.

"Too noisy; you're pissing me off," he said.

Some of his fan girls cheered. He swept a lock of hair from his face and resumed his reading. True, I had to admit that he looked pretty cool, but still he was no match for _my_ Misaki-sensei.

"Memories!"

I looked up to where the shout had come from. Not far from the teacher's table, Mikan-chan waved a pen in the air while Inchou tried to calm her down.

Another shriek came from Mikan. "It's the perfect name!"

"Yes, fine; it's the best," Inchou assured her. "Now why don't you give me that pen and sit down?"

"Name?" Kitsuneme-kun asked, who had managed to pick himself up from the door and was limping over to us. "What name?"

"The name of our Graduation Ceremony theme," I said. "Did I forget to mention that?"

"Oh. Yeah, I think you did."

Then he went off to fly the latest Alice-Killer-Planes v.042 with Kokoroyomi.

I figured it was useless to call after him and decided not to bother about him for now and ticked my pen against the paper. What name would be the best? After some minutes of thinking I finally heaved a sigh and scribbled down the first words that came to my mind.

"Hey; Kitsu, catch!"

'Whoa!" Kitsuneme did a 360-degree flip, dodging the incoming airplane which suddenly changed its target and came straight at me. I didn't have time to respond; all I saw was the razor-sharp, glinting point aiming right between my eyes, coming closer and closer…

_BAKA!_ The unmistakable sound of a Baka gun shot rang through the air and the defeated airplane plummeted and went through my table.

"Next time, bring dangerous toys out of the classroom to play. And Kokoroyomi, the alien powder**(2)** is for my personal research, not for you to play with," said Hotaru.

"Sorry," Koko apologized, but he was still grinning.

Kitsuneme pulled the airplane out of my desk as if it was a mere crop ready for harvest. "Let's see," he peered at my paper which now had a hole. "What the heck—mixed berries? What kind of stupid name is this?" He started laughing hysterically, which caught Hyuuga-kun's attention.

He looked at what I wrote. "Burnt berries," he said simply.

"Floating berries!" yelled Kitsuneme as he whizzed up to the ceilings of the classroom.

I heard someone said, "Don't you think Kitsuneme's gone a little crazy since his Alice went berserk?"

"Not just 'a little', I'd say 'very'," someone else commented.

I could feel the anger boiling inside me. _First _they don't do anything to help for the project, _next _they scorn my ideas. It was just so… _unfair_! I worked so hard to try to achieve the best, but here—these two _freaks_ never contribute to anything and only slow me down!

I bit my lip, and as soon as the bell rang, I dashed out of the classroom.

God, I missed Nonoko so much.

* * *

Subaru-senpai found me slouched over my work table in the Technical Abilities classroom. I was in a terrible mood. Everyone knew better than to talk to me—Hotaru-chan called it a bad shot of PMS and Nonoko-chi tried to give me a reassuring smile—but he approached me first before going over to his sister.

"What's with the long face?"

"Nothing."

"How's your Graduation Project going?"

I buried my head in my hands.

"Then are you finished with your Self-Initiated Assessment? Hotaru has been pestering me endlessly for materials and recently her list of demands went down, so I expect that she is finishing her invention soon and you should be at around her same pace," he continued.

I froze. Shoot, I had totally forgotten about the singing candy which I had been working on! With the pressure of the _stupid_ Graduation Project crushing me down, there was no time for me to worry about another matter. Subaru-senpai's tongue clicked impatiently, and I looked up shakily, waiting for the impending showers of lectures to rain down on me.

Instead, he gave out a long, long sigh and said something so soft that I could only catch the words "good luck then". Then he turned away, heftily throwing a bag to Hotaru and speaking a few words to another Alice before leaving.

I didn't know how I should react. Should I be relieved that Subaru-senpai did not scold me? Or should I be sad, since he was probably disappointed in my lousy work attitude? But… it was true. I gave up so easily and succumbed to my temper, just because of minor setbacks and obstacles. Those people who had high hopes on me, who had faith in me; I let them down. Nonoko-chi, Misaki-sensei, Subaru-senpai, Mum, Dad…

I blinked away the tears forming in my eyes and looked up at the clock. The seconds ticked away. If I could just hurry…

* * *

The Middle School Principal was in her chamber, thoughts clouding her usually restful mind.

Her brow twitched in annoyance. Those wretched men, trespassing on her forbidden floors, didn't deserve to be here in the custody of the guardian of the Academy. She could feel the scheming plots, hatched in the dungeons where they usually resided, destroying the serene ambience of her domain. As usual, nothing good ever happened when Kamen no Kimi**(3)** came over. However, he had full permission to cross over any of the three divisions' territories, with him clinging on to the Elementary School Principal like a leech. The ESP was the root of all trouble, after all.

And thus the Middle School Principal sent her own leech—who was at first irritating but was slowing proving to be of use—to listen in Kamen no kimi's secret orders. Her lips curled at the thought of the leech boy, whose name was Hayate. He obeyed her every command, since he liked her palace well enough. She also knew that he was firmly attached to one of her most gifted Hana-himes**(4)**, Waka Murasaki**(5)**. The boy was interesting. Maybe she should give him a flower name, too.

She waited patiently until he came rushing up to the inner hall, and leaned in to listen to the hasty whisper.

"Tonight… they're sending him on another mission. Just Natsume. Against seven from the AAO."

* * *

Three hours later, I finally finished my product.

I wiped away the beads of perspiration on my forehead and held up two sweets proudly. They were draped in a non-sticky wrapper, decorated with moving blue and gold lines by a girl with the Design Alice.

I handed one to Misaki-sensei, who seemed to be examining a bonsai. _He looks cute when his face is so determined_, I giggled to myself.

He mumbled something incoherent, and then looked up. "Ah, sorry, Anna-san. Is that your sweet?"

Blushing, I nodded eagerly and handed him one. He brought it to his mouth and I held my breath. Then he started to sing the Alice Academy song in a wonderfully deep voice, which sounded _very_ different from the usual opera voices.

I clapped when he was finished. For a grown man singing soprano, he sounded pretty good.

Misaki-sensei coughed, looking flustered. "Ahem, good, I never expected that I could sing; my choir teacher always picked on me, but…" His face turned abruptly serious. "What flavor is this?"

"Champagne grape yoghurt milkshake with a dash of pineappermint powder," I said in one breath.

"What?"

"It's Nonoko-chi's favorite," I added in a small voice.

He stared at me for a few seconds, and then took the grading sheet I had been clutching on to. "Hmm, well, you did have her interests at heart. Now let's see…" He scribbled some comments on the paper. "There! An A minus! Good job!"

I grinned, uttered a grateful "thank you" and rushed back to Class B. Nonoko-chi had finished her hair-grow formula long before I did. She should be already there.

It was a custom for a Technical Alice to give her finished product/invention to someone to express their heartfelt gratitude. Most of the time my gifts go to Nonoko-chi, and sometimes I give them to Misaki-sensei. I heard that for Hotaru-chan… well, I've never seen her give away any of her valuable inventions but her Baka gun (v. 52) blows was said to be her way of showing appreciation to Mikan-chan.

I arrived at the classroom much faster than I expected. The first thing I did was to look for Nonoko-chi, my _dearest_ best friend. But there was no midnight blue lock anywhere. My heart sank. To think that I was so excited when my singing candy was finished…

"Don't worry." Yuu flashed a smile at me. "Nonoko-chan just went to the washroom so she'll be back soon."

Naturally I smiled back, and couldn't help but watch him admiringly as he stood up and gave his instructions to the class "Everyone, please get into your project groups before Jinno-sensei comes!" He then looked back down at me. "Anyway, I don't think that she would mind even if you gave her whatever you've finished slightly later."

I nodded shyly. "All right." Somehow looking at Inchou always made me feel better too, with his caring personality and thoughtfulness.

I slid into the seat beside Class B's pyrokinetic. "Your face is red," Hyuuga-kun grunted.

I was a little surprised that _the_ Hyuuga Natsume had talked to me first but I just shrugged his comment off and concentrated my thoughts on Nonoko-chi's ecstatic face when she receives my candy. I smiled subconsciously.

"What's this?"

Kitsuneme's hand reached over to grab the candy I held.

"Give that back!" I shouted, trying to wrestle it back from Kitsuneme. But he merely chuckled and easily hovered a few metres off the ground, out of my reach.

The others just watched the commotion we were causing. Mikan-chan was yelling at Kitsuneme-kun too, but the boys cheered him on. Hyuuga-kun and Ruka-pyon watched, and neither uttered a single word.

I couldn't help it. With a hot rush, tears just spilled over and I dashed out of the classroom like a distraught five-year-old. I ran into Nonoko-chi at the door, but I ignored her cries and ran back to my room.

* * *

That night, I couldn't sleep.

My mind was clouded with thoughts about my precious singing candy and its whereabouts. After dinner, I tried to find Kitsuneme but Koko said that he flew off somewhere else again. If Kitsuneme had lost it… if I didn't find it… what should I do? That sweet was for Nonoko-chi and I had to give it to her.

I covered my head with my pillow. At that exact moment, someone knocked on the door. I sat up, wondering who it could be at this hour and crept to the door. Mustering up my courage, I turned the doorknob, half-expecting to see Nonoko-chi or perhaps Kitsuneme-kun. Instead, I was looking at the scrawny, ragged figure of Mr. Bear.

"Bear," I squatted down and patted his head. "What are you doing here?"

He beckoned me out and led me to a room not far from mine.

I stared at the name plate above the door, embroidered with a single golden star. "Mikan-chan? Why…?" I peered at in confusion.

He knocked on the door. After several moments there was still no response, so I tried the doorknob. To my surprise it was unlocked and swung open easily.

The room was empty. The bed was neatly made and there were Mikan's belongings lined against the wall: her bag, shoes and some books. The only window in her room was open, big enough that a person could slip in. The curtains were flying and the night wind swept through my hair.

Where could Mikan have gone to?

With some trepidation I spoke, "Let's go, Bear. She's not here."

He looked downcast and gloomy as I shut the door quietly behind me. I hesitated a little before gathering him into my lap and whispering into his soft, warm ears, "Don't worry; she'll be back soon."

He buried his nose into my hair and we both enjoyed the silence. Then he jumped off and walked to the exit of the dormitory. I didn't dare to speak, so I raced after him.

When he arrived at his destination, my pajamas—which I hadn't changed out of—were crumpled and dirty and my hair probably resembled a bird's nest. But that was the least of my worries. The place that Mr. Bear had brought me to—the Alice Hospital—disturbed me the most. What were we doing here? Don't tell me that Mikan-chan is here?

The patient that Mr. Bear visited was not who I had expected. He was Kaname-senpai, who resembled a prince and was Tsubasa-senpai's classmate and Mr. Bear's creator. He was resting in a private ward located in a silent corner of the hospital. I felt quite afraid as I studied his pale face and thin body. How could an Alice—_a gift_—cause this? I did complain about how having an Alice separated me away from my beloved parents but I had never really thought about how it could affect someone else's lifespan. To suffer from your own Alice was much, much _worse_ than what I was facing now. I felt guilty; _guilty _that I was so weak and self-centered when someone else was fighting for every second of his life at the same time.

I stood there wondering for ages, so lost in my thoughts that I did not see Mr. Bear leave. I ran out of the hospital, wondering where he went and how I was going to get back to the dormitories at night. Then I saw a small figure in the distance, heading towards where I thought was the Northern Woods. Without thinking, I ran in that direction, but when I entered the woods I lost sight of Mr. Bear.

"Bear!" I called out as loudly as I dared.

There was nothing; no answer. Only the ominous howl of the wind wheezed past my ear.

Fear crept up to me, and the hairs on the back of my neck pricked up. What should I do? How could I get out of this creepy place now? I wanted to cry, but I held back my tears, not wanting to attract any unnecessary monsters by sobbing. I tried to recall how I had entered the woods: was it from the South? Or the North? No, wait—where is North?

There was a rustle of leaves. I gripped on to a tree tightly, despite the possible presence of disgusting insects on the bark. What strange creatures could be living in this forest, waiting to feast on any unlucky, lost student? No, just calm down, I told myself. Mikan-chan had survived in the Northern Woods before even without knowing her Alice, right? I thought I should be fine as well.

Twigs cracked.

I twisted my neck to the right and held my breath as something approached.

The moonlight was not bright, but I could barely make out the silhouette of a boy about my age. He seemed to be wearing the Academy's uniform, and there was something on his face… a mask? I didn't dare to call out to him. I watched him limp past my tree, and something caught the light of the moon. An earring.

Once he left, I slowly breathed out. There was one puzzling thought in my mind: what would someone be doing in the Northern Woods in the middle of the night?

As far as I knew, there was only one boy in the Elementary Division who wore an earring. The most dangerous of us all.

* * *

**A/N**: I'm sorry for sending a double alert! But I forgot to include this part .

(1) This "crazy Alice thing" is a side effect of Alices experiencing puberty, which is not uncommon. During a period of perhaps a few weeks, these Alices will go through a sudden increase in Alice power, which may become temporarily uncontrollable and unstable. This is something I made up, but you can ask Higuchi-sensei to prove whether this can really happen :p In Kitsuneme's case, he will randomly shoot off into the sky and beyond, so Hotaru is actually using him to do some secret experiments while he is in space. I hope this might make my story easier to understand.

(2) This is something Hotaru collected with the help of Kitsuneme.

(3) For those who did not read the manga, Kamen no Kimi means "the Masked One", which refers to Persona.

(4) Hana-hime means "flower princess".

(5) Waka Murasaki is Hotaru's flower name.


End file.
